Deer becoming problem for Middletown

MIDDLETOWN — The city is looking at ways to reduce the growing number of deer that have been coming in as development eats into their rural habitats.

BY NATHAN BROWN

MIDDLETOWN — The city is looking at ways to reduce the growing number of deer that have been coming in as development eats into their rural habitats.

Mayor Joe DeStefano said city officials have already held some meetings and have been reviewing their options, and will continue to do so next year.

"We need to have a deer control plan," he said. "There's no question about it."

Killing the deer — either through more hunting or trained sharpshooters — can be controversial, but these are usually the only two viable options in city settings, said Ted Kerpez, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Allowing more hunting is the cheapest solution where it's feasible, Kerpez said. The venison from controlled hunts is often donated to food pantries.

Kerpez said some commonly proposed non-lethal solutions, such as injecting deer with an immunocontraceptive, are expensive and ineffective.

"It's very hard to get all the deer," he said. "You're still going to have some reproducing. Deer, believe it or not, are fairly long-lived. Unless they're hit by a car, there's really not much else that gets them."

Trapping and relocating them is usually not viable, Kerpez said, since it's pricey, the trauma can kill them anyway, and there are few places to bring them. Changing what you plant isn't too effective either, he said, given the wide range of plants deer eat.

"It's almost impossible to not have food for them in your neighborhood," he said.

Kerpez said deer are a "fairly common problem in cities." Suburban areas, he said, can sometimes support more deer than a wooded area can.

"They just need a little bit of woods to bed down in at night, and they've got a lot of food in people's yards," he said.

Part of the problem is with deer eating people's plants, but "the bigger concern is having these large animals in an inner city," DeStefano said, because of the possibilities of car accidents and confrontations with pedestrians, which can happen especially during rut (the mating period) or when there are fawns around.

"When they feel they have nowhere to go, they can be a violent animal," DeStefano said.